Angry Movie Personalities Go to Washington : Actors and Directors Are Seeking Legislation to Protect Artists

Film actors and directors took their campaign against colorizing and altering movies to Washington on Tuesday. They sought legislation to protect their “moral rights” or similar protection through U.S. adherence to the 100-year-old Berne Copyright Convention, an international treaty.

Veteran actor Burt Lancaster, appearing at a National Press Club news conference with James Stewart and half a dozen other industry spokesmen, said:

“What this is all about is the fact that what an artist makes belongs to him, no matter who owns the product.”

Stewart made an eloquent plea on behalf of Frank Capra, director of “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

“Frank is in bad health and just found out that ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ has come into the public domain,” Stewart said. “To his horror, he also found that it was being colorized. It broke his heart.”

The white-haired actor said he saw the result and felt “the human side of the story was completely gone.”

Elliot Silverstein, speaking for the Directors Guild of America, said other values than moral ones are at stake. He cited the estimate by the Motion Picture Assn. of America that piracy of U.S. films by nations not belonging to the Berne treaty may cost the industry as much as $1 billion annually. He implied that U.S. adherence would enable Washington to press other nations to join.

Silverstein said the industry favors U.S. adherence to the treaty because domestic law that is supposed to provide protection to artists’ rights does not. He said the industry would favor joining the treaty or amending U.S. law.

Director Peter Bogdanovich attacked primarily the colorization of black-and-white movies, but he warned that other technical changes may further destroy the integrity of films.

“I’ve never made a film in Cinemascope because it would be shown on TV through a process called ‘panning and scanning’ and you just don’t see the picture.”

Fred Zinnemann, director of “High Noon,” said colorization made the Western look “like a bloody postcard” and Gary Cooper’s face “like a pink pancake.”

Ronald Neame, a British director and former cameraman, protested that defenders of colorization say the black-and-white film can be seen in the original by adjusting the television set.

“That is codswallop,” he said. “In order to color a film, you have to make a very soft black and white print and then apply the tint.”

Silverstein warned that worse may come. With digital sampling, he said, a film can be totally altered.

“The next step will be ‘True Grit’ starring Sean Penn with music by Whitesnake.”

Told that key members of Congress oppose changing U.S. law to protect artistic rights, Silverstein said:

“We aren’t giving up. There’s a line from ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’ (another Stewart classic) which says, ‘Lost causes are the only causes worth fighting for.’ ”